WASHINGTON— A new survey sponsored by NetChoice and conducted by Morning Consult found that 73 percent of registered voters agree that the U.S. government should not continue doing business with companies that are frequently hacked or whose products are hacked regularly. The survey comes just one day before Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith testifies before the House Homeland Security Committee about Microsoft’s “security shortcomings” and “challenges encountered in preventing significant cyber intrusions by suspected nation-state threat actors.”
The results show that voters want more secure and competitive government technology. More than 80 percent of voters said the U.S. government should consider cybersecurity performance and track records when selecting vendors for tech purposes. The findings come after several notable breaches of systems exposing emails and sensitive information of government agencies, and as the U.S. government has continued to contract nearly exclusively with Microsoft for software tools. A majority of respondents also supported the U.S. government considering different vendors for its technology services to protect against cyberattacks.
“Voters have noticed that the U.S. government has repeatedly been exposed to cyberattacks from all directions, and they recognize Microsoft’s responsibility in these hacks,” said Carl Szabo, NetChoice Vice President & General Counsel. “The U.S. government spends about $100 billion on technology procurement annually, and American taxpayers rightly expect that money to be used wisely on the best and most secure products. They want America’s government to be protected and have secure software that attackers cannot easily breach time and again.”
You can find the results of the NetChoice/Morning Consult poll here.
Please contact Krista Chavez at press@netchoice.org with inquiries.
SOURCE: NetChoice & Morning Consult—Survey of N=2,519 registered voters; Field Dates: May 20-22, 2024; Margin of Error: +/- 2 Percentage Points.
Image generated by NetChoice using ChatGPT’s DALL-E.